International Opium Convention
The International Opium Convention, signed at The Hague on January 23, 1912, was the first international drug control treaty. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 23, 1922.League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 8, pp. 188-239. The United States convened a 13-nation conference of the International Opium Commission in 1909 in Shanghai, China in response to increasing criticism of the opium trade. The treaty was signed by Germany, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam. The Convention provided that "The contracting Powers shall use their best endeavours to control, or to cause to be controlled, all persons manufacturing, importing, selling, distributing, and exporting morphine, cocaine, and their respective salts, as well as the buildings in which these persons carry such an industry or trade." The Convention was implemented in 1915 by the United States, Netherlands, China, Honduras, and Norway. It went into force globally in 1919 when it was incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles. A revised International Opium Convention was signed at Geneva on February 19, 1925, which went into effect on September 25, 1928, and was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on the same day.League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 81, pp. 318-358. The beginnings of international drug control It introduced a statistical control system to be supervised by a Permanent Central Opium Board, a body of the League of Nations. Egypt, with support from China and United States, recommended that a prohibition on hashish be added to the Convention, and a sub-committee proposed the following text: The use of Indian hemp and the preparations derived therefrom may only be authorized for medical and scientific purposes. The raw resin (charas), however, which is extracted from the female tops of the cannabis sativa L, together with the various preparations (hashish, chira, esrar, diamba, etc.) of which it forms the basis, not being at present utilized for medical purposes and only being susceptible of utilisation for harmful purposes, in the same manner as other narcotics, may not be produced, sold, traded in, etc., under any circumstances whatsoever. India and other countries objected to this language, citing social and religious customs and the prevalence of wild-growing cannabis plants that would make it difficult to enforce. Accordingly, this provision never made it into the final treaty. A compromiseW.W. WILLOUGHBY: OPIUM AS AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM, BALTIMORE, THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS, 1925 was made that banned exportation of Indian hemp to countries that have prohibited its use, and requiring importing countries to issue certificates approving the importation and stating that the shipment was required "exclusively for medical or scientific purposes." It also required Parties to "exercise an effective control of such a nature as to prevent the illicit international traffic in Indian hemp and especially in the resin." These restrictions still left considerable leeway for countries to allow production, internal trade, and use of cannabis for recreational purposesThe cannabis problem: A note on the problem and the history of international action. The Convention was superseded by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. See also *Legal issues of cannabis References *The cannabis problem: A note on the problem and the history of international action, Bulletin on Narcotics, 1962. *The beginnings of international drug control, UN Chronicle, Summer, 1998. *International Opium Convention Signed at The Hague January 23, 1912. External links *Text of the 1912 convention *Text of the 1925 convention *Opium Museum *Losing Ground. Drug Control and War in Afghanistan. Transnational Institute TNI, Dec 2006 Category:Drug control treaties Category:1912 in the Netherlands Category:Treaties concluded in 1909 Category:Treaties entered into force in 1915 Category:Treaties entered into force in 1919 ca:Conveni Internacional de l'Opi de:Internationale Opiumkonferenz es:Convención Internacional del Opio eo:Internacia opikonvencio eu:Opioaren Nazioarteko Konbentzioa fr:Convention internationale de l'opium id:Konvensi Opium Internasional it:Convenzione internazionale sull'oppio he:אמנת האופיום הבינלאומית la:Conventum gentium de opio ja:万国阿片条約 ru:Международная опиумная конвенция sq:Konventa Ndërkombëtare Opium scn:Cumminzioni Ntirnazziunali dû Loppiu simple:International Opium Convention fi:Kansainvälinen oopiumisopimus sv:Internationella opiumkonventionen zh:国际鸦片公约